Green home saves energy and money

On a day when the outside temperature is pushing 90, Kyla Bennett’s home is a comfortable 74 degrees.

Amy Littlefield

Kyla Bennett has solar panels on her roof, a low-flush toilet in her bathroom and wildflowers in her yard.

And on a day when the temperature is pushing 90, the Easton environmentalist’s house is a comfortable 74 degrees.

That’s without air conditioning, because this house doesn’t need any.

Thanks to a few smart decisions made by Bennett, 49, and her husband, Don, when they built it four years ago, the place pretty much cools itself.

The secret, Kyla Bennett said, is working with nature, instead of against it.

Floors made of gravel and concrete stay icy cold, a Mylar curtain deflects solar heat, and the home is so well-insulated it’s practically air-tight.

When the sun sets, Bennett throws open the windows. Paddle fans with slanted blades cool the home’s four bedrooms.

The house faces south, but the hot summer afternoon sun, high in the sky, cannot penetrate. In the winter, when the angle of the sun shifts, sunlight pours in, warming the house.

The result is a home that stays about 74 degrees all year, with a pellet stove and a small amount of gas heat used in the winter.

The North Easton home has been featured in magazines and books, and has received a gold certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, an internationally recognized certification for green building.

And as it turns out, working with nature is cheaper than working against it.

The entire 3,400-square-foot, four-bedroom house uses $900 worth of electricity per year, and costs about as much to create as any custom-built home of a similar size, Bennett said.

The family spends an additional $900 each year on gas for the stove, back-up heating system, and hot water.

According to the town assessors database, the house (minus the value of the 5.36 acres of land on which it sits) is assessed at $343,000.

Some summer days, the solar panels make more electricity than the house needs, and they sell the power back to the grid.

Apart from its solar panels and slanted roof, the house – complete with fiber cement siding and recycled rubber shingles – resembles a modern ranch-style house.

But unlike some manicured lawns in Easton, Bennett’s front yard is a forest of asparagus, fruit trees and wildflowers. Some days, Bennett said, she can find all the food she needs in her garden.

Inside, the beauty is in the details: The table is a slab of 250-year-old wood, the wall sconces are post-consumer acrylic, and the wooden stairs were made by a local business.

“Everything we did, we tried to do it with a mind to the amount of waste and where it was coming from,” said Bennett.

The family’s environmentalism extends beyond their home.

Kyla Bennett has been vocal on a number of environmental issues, including her opposition to the extension of the Stoughton commuter rail through the Hockomock Swamp. She is a member of the Easton Conservation Commission and the director of New England Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility,

Don Bennett is a bio-statistician who uses his bicycle and the train to commute to his job at a pharmaceutical company in Cambridge.

But conscious living has not forced the Bennetts or their two children, Denali, 15, and Eames, 18, to sacrifice comfort. The home has energy efficient versions of kitchen appliances, a flat-screen TV and computers.